Comments about ‘Readers' forum: Healthy school lunch’

Why is it the responsibility of the school system? You're correct, it is the
responsibility of the parents and if they have a problem with what the school is
serving, the parents should get the school to change. The government should not
be involved in this at all. People should be.

Congress should have absolutely no say what schools serve for lunch. The
responsibility to provide a healthy lunch belongs to each individual parent. If
they don't like what the school is serving for lunch, then they can try to get
the school to change it or pack a lunch for their kids.

Let us say that parents are upset with the menu and talking with the schools has
failed. Concerned parents get together, organize, and via elections make
changes to the school board - substituting the old members with new members who
share their views on nutrition. Those new members then form a voting bloc that
requires the school to change its menu. Is that the government or the people
making the change?

But the government is already involved through its funding of the school lunch
program. Why should government fund lunches that are contributing to the obesity
epidemic? How about offering a nutritionally sound lunch program and parents who
want their kids to eat fatty foods can send them to school with chips and pizza.

The true issue here is the entitlement mentality that is represented. The locals
demand that the federals pay for the school lunch program, but also demand that
the federals have no say in what is served for lunch. The locals want to have
their cake, and eat it too.

This Country is in the midst of an
obesity epidemic. The federals have every right to tell the schools that if they
are going to accept federal money, they are going to provide healthy food.

It should not have come to this. Schools should be teaching positives
values on their own, without federal encouragement. Unfortunately, the schools
refuse to teach values such as moderation, prudence, and self-control beccause
doing so may hurt someone's feelings.

Let us solve this problem once
and for all. No matter who provides the lunch, we can no longer tolerate
gluttony in the public schools.

But when you look at
it, there are too many repubs that want the government to raise their kids.

Just look here in Utah. Sooooo many repubs just create these huge
families that they cannot support. Through government handouts, they are then
able to keep reproducing and then buy cars and phones for every single one of
their kids.

They also expect the government to feed them. Just look
at how many repub Utah parents just leave their kids to fend for themselves (or
for the teacher and school to not only feed, but to educate and raise them).

Are you too focused on earning that extra paycheck to go
out and buy that brand new luxury car or cellphone?

Are you too busy
donating 25k at Gov. Herbert's elitist dinner to make your own kids dinner?

When you come home, do you come home to converse with your children? Or
do you quickly turn on the tv/AM radio?

Are you too busy to teach
your children morals? Like accountability, hard work, honesty, caring for
others, and doing the right thing ethically and morally despite the free-market
telling you whatever goes? That AS LONG AS YOU DON'T GET CAUGHT, it's okay?

Is your approach to education a negative one or a positive one? Do you
teach that all Muslims are evil and that no one should show respect for them? Is
everything in play for cynicism, disrespect, humor, can you call fellow
Americans ARGUING WITH IDIOTS, as long as it makes you money?

Mom...
Dad... How can you take money away from others because you don't have enough
self control to support yourselves?

This is the result of influence of large corporate food companies. I know the
DesNews does not like to hear it, but the citizens of this country do not
control the country. Congress does not care about the average person. They
listen to lobbyists and big corporations who have deep pockets and pay for their
re-elections, junkets and other benefits. If you don't think big corporate
interests control Congress, lock, stock and barrel, you are naive. This
situation proves that.

@ Esquire. The fault of large corporate food companies? You don't give people
much credit for controlling their own choices do you? I have never felt
controlled by any corporate food company and to suggest that people are too
stupid to make their own choices is just silly and inaccurate! "Dang those
greedy corporations anyway! Now I am not accountable anymore for my decisions
and therefore am a poor "victim" and need the government to take care
of me"! (sarcasm off).

Could this finally prove to some of you that the Repubs only care about doing
the opposite of Obama. Pizza is a vegetable? French fries are a vegetable?! Next
this you know they will classify jolly ranchers as fruit because thats what the
taste like....

@Real Maverick, I think you are pointing fingers in the wrong direction. First,
I don't like stereotypes. While it's easy to blame any problem on a group of
people, it's also quite dishonest. True, Utah is largely Republican, so
statistically any group of people you run across (except maybe at a Democrat
convention) in Utah is going to be mostly Republican. But your comments seem to
lay quite a few problems SOLELY at the feet of Republicans. You also take a
generic swipe at large families, also predominate in Utah.

I live in
the predominately Democrat, predominately small family state of Maryland. Our
schools offer free/reduced meals as well. The problem (in my town) of kids not
getting enough to eat was so widespread the school now offers free breakfast to
ALL STUDENTS.

Yes, there are some people who live like you describe,
with kids taking free lunches while parents spend money on luxuries. I know
many people in my community getting government help, and most of them are doing
so because THEY NEED TO, not because they are ripping off the government or the
taxpayers.

Here's who to blame Carissa Monroy of Salt Lake City, for "healthy
vegetable choices". House Republicans are ramming through legislation this
week to classify pizza as a "vegetable" for the purpose of school
lunches. Why? Because a massive lobbying effort of Republican lawmakers by the
frozen pizza industry, among other corporate interests, is underway to get
around Obama Administration guidelines to make school lunches contain healthier
options. In this Republican Congress, almost anything is up for sale to the
highest bidder and most powerful K Street and Koch Brother's lobbyists including
the literal definition of the word "vegetable" and this time, it's
coming at the expense of our kids' health. Look, we could have a lot of fun
with this one. But the fact is that there is a very real bottom line: Childhood
obesity has tripled in the past three decades. And for some kids, school lunches
are some of the best nutrition options they have during the day. If you think
this is as ridiculous as we do, tell the GOP that it's time they started picking
real people over corporations (and real vegetables over slices of pizza, for
that matter).

Their NOT all "stupid" in The White House, just the GOP US House. Ask
yourself. What would this lady say about calling a pizza a veggie?. In public
schools. Ina Rosenberg Garten is an American author, host of the Food Network
program Barefoot Contessa, and former White House nuclear policy analyst.
Known for designing recipes with an emphasis on fresh ingredients and
time-saving tips, she has been noted by Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, and
Patricia Wells for her cooking and home entertaining. Garten had no formal
training; she taught herself culinary techniques with the aid of French and New
England cookbooks. Later, she relied on intuition and feedback from customers
and friends to refine her recipes. She was mentored chiefly by Eli Zabar, owner
of Eli's Manhattan and Eli's Breads, and food-show host and author Martha
Stewart. Barefoot Contessa; Garten then expanded her activities to several
best-selling cookbooks, magazine columns, self-branded convenience products, and
a popular Food Network television show.

Oh gosh. Was this Romney and Cain's health care plan?. The government took
action and introduced a bill to classify pizza as a vegetable in schools. Mark
this down: November 17, 2011: The day America gave up. The food industry says
the new rules give schools the flexibility to increase nutrition. The same way
elastic waistbands give us the flexibility to keep in shape. Now pizzas can be
vegetables in public schools. What are they drinking up on K Street in
Washington DC ?.

I recall a time when you could choose to have school lunch, not breakfast of
course, and it was a good balanced meal, at my school at least.

If
you didn't want a school lunch you had a long enough lunch break, one hour being
usual, that you could walk home and eat there. There was usually a mother home
to take care of this.

I don't know how you will sort out the
current mess, but a healthy second choice would be a start, and not just carrot
sticks and sad salads. Vegetables can be cooked. Meat and two cooked veg is
pretty good.

I don't understand why the potato industry is worried.
You can boil, mash, bake, or roast potatoes. Texas fries are better than the
usual skinny, all grease and hardly any potato "french fries" option.
They fry better today because they use oil not the lard or dripping of my day.
Potatoes are about the healthiest food you can get if you don't ruin them in
the preparation.